My boyfriend Jamie recently sent me a link to this article entitled "Why We Desperately Need a New (and Better) Google". Obviously, Google is my search engine of choice because it works significantly better than other popular alternatives. In my organizing and retrieving information class last semester, we talked a lot about Google and how its patented PageRank algorithm works (to a very basic degree). We talked about how Google uses citations, references, and hyperlinks to rank pages and how this bypassed many of the tricks that website creators used to make their pages rank high in a search engine.
Okay, great. But what happens when sites begin to purchase high rankings? Objectivity and unbiased information go out the window and you get some yahooesque search engine. That may be an exaggeration, but many times Google searches now offer sponsored links in addition to other listings. Hmmm... I have to say, it hasn't directly affected my searches but it's a slippery slope. Now this, then what? I do trust Google (I use gmail and I'm not overly concerned with the fact that Google knows a lot about me) but I have to say that I am waiting for Google to use its inordinately large amount of power for evil.
Which is why it's important to have alternatives. This article mentions blekko, a search engine that allows you to sort your search results using slashtags (like /date to search by date or /blog to search only blogs). It's pretty neat. While it's still in beta, it does offer an interesting alternative, with a sleek and simple interface (lifted a little from Google, perhaps?). It's just a matter of time before something as innovative as Google PageRank comes out. Could this be it?
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